T O P I C R E V I E W |
Chuckster01 | Has anyone heard of Bill Anders flying a 45 caliber bullet to the moon aboard Apollo 8? It seems unlikely that live ammunition would be flown aboard any spacecraft but it would appear that at lease one round did fly to the moon. Any feedback would be appreciated. |
MartinAir | I have no additional information, but what is the story behind that bullet? |
Chuckster01 | This photo signed by Bill Anders and showing a .45 Cal round in a flown on Apollo 8 display. Again this is only a photograph but I would love to know who Walt is and if any one has ever seen this display?
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MartinAir | Seems like a private memento, from his PPK. I think, only Bill can answer the questions... |
SpaceAholic | Not .45 caliber and if carried would have been inert. |
thisismills | For what its worth, this is a known acrylic "puck" presentation style for items flown on Apollo 8 and agree that it was likely in an astronaut's PPK. Another example below for reference which is a coin that was carried and encased with the same text engraved. |
davidcwagner | Appears to be half of a 45 caliber long round cut lengthwise. Certainly inert. Would it be on PPK list? |
SpaceAholic | Yep... will buy possibly it is a .45 long colt vice .45 ACP. |
Spacepsycho | The bullet looks to be a .45 Long Colt, it's not cut in half, but it's impossible to tell if it's a live round. The photo doesn't show if it has a primer, so it could be missing and the powder removed. This is commonly done for TV and movie productions, as well as bullet boards that displayed a manufacturers line of ammo. The bullet neck has a liquid seal from the factory, so it's possible this is a live round. Hopefully someone can ask Anders if he remembers the bullet or the photo. |
Headshot | Agree that it certainly looks like a 45 Long Colt cartridge, but I cannot conceive of any NASA astronaut being so stupid as to sneaking a live firearm cartridge aboard a U.S. spacecraft. It most certainly has to be a dummy, e.g inert. Nonetheless, this is an interesting story and I certainly hope we find out more details. |
Chuckster01 | For the record I never implied it was a live round as there would be no way to tell and again I would not believe any astronaut would fly a live round, still a bit dismayed that any round would fly. Just a strange picture, story to share. If anyone knows how to contact Bill Anders It would be great to see if he recalls this. |
MartinAir | Indirectly, maybe via his Heritage Flight Museum? |
Larry McGlynn | According to Anders as relation to his letter written to Fletcher on 11-6-1972, he carried two ".45 empties" with him to the Moon. They were listed in his PPK and approved by Deke. |
Robert Pearlman | This story seems to have surfaced somewhere once before because in November 2018, someone posted to Quora: "What brand of .45 caliber did an Apollo astronaut carry?" The question was not answered (or at least the replies focused on the fact Apollo astronauts didn't carry guns) but it seems like the originally inquiry could have been inspired by someone being told or having seen Anders' bullets. |
MartinAir | Off topic, but since it was mentioned here: How many Island Aurar coins were carried? One is on display at the Husavik Exploration Museum Iceland. |